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U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Dip To 206,000
Heatwave in Europe could lead to UK shortage of Christmas turkeys
The UK could face a turkey shortage this Christmas as a heatwave in France has resulted in dwindling supplies of eggs for farmers.
French breeders provide about a quarter of eggs hatched in the UK that go on to become the birds that form the centrepiece of festive dining tables.
But supplies are about 10% down on expected levels after temperatures have topped 40C (104F) in France according to Paul Kelly, chairman of the British Turkey Federation and the boss of free range turkey producer KellyBronze.
Kelly told the Grocer trade journal that “huge amounts” of turkey eggs due to hatch by late August had been lost. He said on-going high temperatures could put further pressure on supplies.
“It’s a bit of a nightmare. We’re seeing a massive shortage of eggs at the moment,” Kelly said.
The potential egg shortages come as turkey farmers also face potential cost rises from a shortage of labour partly caused by uncertainty over Brexit which has put off workers coming to the UK.
But Shraddha Kaul of the British Poultry Council said it had not received reports from members about problems with egg production in the UK, which accounts for about three-quarters of supplies to farmers here.
“We need to keep an eye on supply of French eggs but hopefully the supply issues will be sorted out sooner rather than later,” she said. “British turkey farmers have worked hard to have a sustainable supply of meat for Christmas.”
A trader is making a big bet on a scary market downturn in the next four weeks
On Wednesday, a big trader, perhaps the infamous trader know as"Fifty Cent" (named for his/her propensity to buy VIX call options worth 50 cents), bought some 261,000 VIX calls at the August 21st expiry 20 strike calls.
(The CBOE Volatility Index is called the stock market's fear gauge, tracking the price of options on the S&P 500. When it goes up, the market usually goes down. These call options are not in the money until the so-called VIX pops more than 50% from here. So this is a big bet on a quick market downturn.)
As you can see, in blocks ranging from 110,000 to over 25,000 they bought those August calls for 33 cents up to 35 cents.
Michelin H1 Profit Down
French tire maker Michelin Cie Des Estb (MGDDY.PK,MGDDF.PK) Thursday reported first-half profit of 844 million euros of 4.74 euro per share, down from 917 million euros or 5.12 euro per share last year.
Revenues for the six month period rose 11 percent to 11.78 billion euros from 10.60 billion euros last year.
CEO Florent Menegaux said: “In highly volatile markets, the Group demonstrated its ability to protect its margins by tight price steering, and by rigorously implementing its competitiveness plan. It also benefited from strong contribution from its recent acquisitions. In this persistently uncertain business environment, the Group pursues its competitiveness initiatives, its firm pricing policy in order to maintain its leadership in its tire businesses, and to continue the deployment of its growth strategy.”
Automotive & related distribution sales rose to 5.66 billion euros from 5.60 billion euros last year, road transportation & related distribution segment sales increased to 3.14 billion euros from 3.05 billion euros. Specialty business & related distribution improved to 2.98 billion euros from 1.95 billion euros.
Anil Agarwal's Volcan to sell about 2% stake in Anglo American
(Reuters) – Billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Volcan Holdings Plc has offered to sell about a 1.9% stake in Anglo American Plc (AAL.L), one of the bookrunners handling the sale said on Thursday.
Volcan is to sell about 24.7 million shares in the mining group via an accelerated bookbuild, the bookrunner said. The stake is worth about 540.2 million pounds ($672.60 million), based on Anglo American’s closing price on Thursday.
Volcan is Anglo American’s biggest shareholder with 19.3% shareholding, according to Refinitiv data.
To Fight ‘McMansions,’ One Protester Spoils the View (With Himself)
Wendy MacNaughton is a graphic journalist based in San Francisco. You can find her via website and Instagram.
U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Dip To 206,000
After reporting an uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the previous week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing an unexpected pullback in initial jobless claims in the week ended July 20th.
The report said initial jobless claims fell to 206,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 216,000. The drop surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to inch up to 219,000.
With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims hit their lowest level since falling to a nearly 50-year low of 193,000 in the week ended April 13th.
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also dipped to 213,000, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 218,750.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also dropped by 13,000 to 1.676 million in the week ended July 13th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims subsequently slipped to 1,697,250, a decrease of 4,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 1,701,750.
Next Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report for July.
